The Digit-al Dozen Does Art day 2, plus Emerald Nail Art Day - gold & emerald art deco nails!

Hey everyone! I'm back for the SECOND DAY IN A ROW with some more nails to show y'all. This Digit-al Dozen week is kicking my ass already and we're only on day two... hopefully I can make it through the whole thing (just kidding I will do it or die trying). I should have done a couple manis in advance but I'm a bad procrastinator and the holidays were so busy for me sooo... here we are. Painting our nails every day this week!

This is my second set of art deco inspired nails - this time using striping tape. I actually followed through on what I said I would do yesterday!

These nails also fit the theme of Emerald Nail Art Day, which Brittney from Precious Polish suggested to me and a few other ladies we do today since emerald is Pantone's color of the year for 2013.

These nails started with a base of Zoya Ziv on all nails except my ring finger, which got two lovely coats of Revlon Emerald (APPROPRIATE!). Both of these polishes are seriously gorg, I've worn Emerald before but never worn Ziv on its own and it's just... way too pretty. It has these little dark gold flecks in it that keep it from being a regular gold foil and it goes on perfectly and I love it.

After finishing my base color I did a coat of Seche Vite so they'd dry nice and quick. I took this opportunity for a bathroom and internet break and then got to work with my striping tape. One nail at a time I positioned the tape, painted over it, and peeled it off while the polish was still wet. The image that mostly inspired the patterns can be found here. I didn't use any parts of that image exactly because that just felt like too much work, but I kept the picture up on my computer while I was positioning the striping tape so I could keep the general idea of it fresh in my brain.

Let me just tell you guys this... these nails? Ain't nobody got time for that. I was quite a bit overly ambitious with this manicure and it took me way longer than I anticipated to finish it. After the first two nails I was ready to rend my garments in despair or just call it an accent nail mani and leave it be, but I kept going because giving up isn't really in my nature (unfortunately for me sometimes).

Despite the frustration and time commitment of this mani, I really ended up liking it. I'm proud of the designs I did and I like that the set of nails is cohesive without all of them being the same. I think this is probably my favorite way to interpret skittles lately. I also super love these colors together, in no small part because they are both SO PRETTY.

So there we have it! My second art deco inspired mani, which I like a lot more than the first because dat striping tape. I just LOVE how clean and precise lines made with striping tape look. It's right up my perfectionist alley. What do you guys think of these?

Don't forget to check out the other ladies doing Emerald Nail Art Day and the rest of the Digit-al Dozen group!

Brittney at Precious Polish
Winnie at The Rawr Shop
Naomi at Bellezza Bee
Traci at Drinkcitra